Young Gun Byron Wins Vert, Bestwick Takes 7th Cup

Twenty-one-year-old Vince Byron unveiled his 540 double tailwhip at the start of the Dew Tour season, and the trick helped him nab his first win in today’s BMX vert finals.

"It was magical and I was not expecting it, that's for sure," Byron said. "I think a lot of people are used to Jamie being up there."

Byron's winning run started with a straight air into a barspin to tuck no-hander, double tailwhip, opposite air downside tailwhip, flair whip, 540 tuck no-hander, back into opposite flair, tobaggan and he finished with 540 double tailwhip. His score of 91.50 held on for the win.

Check out Vince’s First Run of the Superfinals

"I think more and more people are coming into vert, so Jamie's reign may not last forever," Byron said. "But who knows, he may step his game up. You never know."

The real battle of the day was between Jamie Bestwick and Steven McCann, ranked first and second coming into the Championships. It was the first time in Dew Tour history that Bestwick's hold on the Dew Cup was in jeopardy. After McCann won the last event, a win in Vegas would give him the Dew Cup. But the same held true for Bestwick.

After advancing to the Superfinal, Steven McCann went down hard on his first run and knocked himself out, creating even more drama. But he came back in his next run and landed his no-handed 900 at the buzzer to boost his score. He had one more run to go, but he wasn't able to pull together the run he had in mind and finished second with 90.75.

"My last run I bobbled," McCann said. "The air before I was supposed to triple whip I hung up and I knew there was no way I was going to triple whip out of that air. It kind of caught me off guard and I was trying to make up the walls into a new run, but I kind of lost my way a little."

Bestwick still had a run left to make it up, but he went down trying a technical and difficult double flair.

"I just wanted to get one solid run under my belt and all I was concentrating on was that double flair," Bestwick said. "I came up about 18 inches short in what I needed to on the setup air."

He finished third with 90.25, but he earned enough points to get the seventh Dew Cup of his career, crushing McCann's hopes.

"I won my seventh Dew Cup in a row and everybody wished for me to fall off in this arena today," Bestwick said. "There were so many people here hoping that Steve McCann would break my legacy and I could see that a lot of hearts were broken. But you know what, that's the kind of rider I am. If you hold on to six Dew Cups you can ride under pressure, and that's what happened today. I got the job done. I hope the McCann fans weren't too bummed out, but I'm one tough old fart and you ain't moving me out of the way that easy."